Hisako Arato
Hisako Arato (新戸 緋沙子 Arato Hisako) is a 92nd generation student in the Tōtsuki Culinary Academy and also the secretary for the 10th seat of the Elite Ten Council, Erina Nakiri. Appearance Hisako has short pink hair with bangs that reach to the length of her chin. In the early parts of the series, she has a normal fringe reaching the length of the eyebrows.Shokugeki no Soma chapter 2, page 4 Later on, her fringe parts to the right.Shokugeki no Soma chapter 52, page 10 She normally wears the standard Tōtsuki seasonal uniforms, even when not in school. She wears a plain white chef's uniform when she cooks. Personality Hisako is a loyal friend to Erina and is almost never seen away from her. As her secretary, she helps to organize Erina's tasks and assignments to allow her to focus on her work, showing an impressive amount of time management and secretarial skills, even more so considering that she is only a high school student. Much of Hisako's ambitions are to help out Erina and make sure that she stays at the top of the class, with Erina standing above her as her "Empress". This means that she tends to care more for Erina than she does herself, which has been the case since they were kids. Hisako always fine following behind Erina and was fine being that way since childhood. She also helps to introduce some modern things to Erina such as Shojo manga, which she buys for her upon request. Much like Erina, Hisako is generally stubborn and prideful, often belittling others, usually in Erina's stead. However, her pride as Erina's closest ally was severely damaged when she lost her Quarterfinal match in the 43rd Annual Autumn Election main tournament to Akira Hayama. Since then, she sulked much more, believing that she is no longer worthy to be Erina's secretary, let alone her friend, despite Erina's personal protests. However, thanks to Sōma's advice, her resolve has changed. Now she wants to stand beside Erina rather than following behind. She has become much more friendly and even befriended Sōma during their week together, despite previous feelings towards him. History Hisako was born into the famed Arato Family, hailed for their mastery in Zhōng Yī, or Chinese Medicine. From a young age, she was well acquainted with Erina and the two became friends. Hisako decided to study her family's Chinese medicine as an influence for her cooking and with that dedication, she pledged to use that knowledge and skill to serve Erina who she views as her "Empress". Through her dedication and skill, Erina made Hisako her secretary for all of her jobs. Hisako was accepted into Tōtsuki along with Erina. In her second year in Tōtsuki's middle school division, Hisako was challenged by Nao Sadatsuka for the right to be Erina's secretary. Hisako won the Shokugeki, thus she maintained her position as Erina's secretary while Sadatsuka was forced to stay at least 50 meters away from Erina at all times. However, this did not stop Nao from sending 30 love letters daily to Erina, which Hisako would dispose of daily. Plot Entrance Exam and Orientation Ceremony Hisako continued to assist Erina, who recently became the 10th seat of the Elite Ten Council. As a member of the council, Erina was tasked with proctoring an entrance examination for the High School Section of Tōtsuki. Upon their arrival, Erina tasked the applicants to create a dish of their choice using eggs as the basis, but also added that they had one minute to withdraw. Without a moment's hesitation, the room was quickly vacated. Erina told Hisako to prepare for the next job, thinking that all the applicants had backed out. However a lone boy remained: Sōma Yukihira, much to Hisako and Erina's surprise. She told Sōma that he was not going to be able to impress Erina due to her fame, but Sōma ignored her taunts and proceeded to take the test. Like Erina, Hisako became increasingly infuriated with Sōma's simplistic dish choice and presentation. However she was amazed by the final product and watched as Erina enjoyed Sōma's dish. However a combination of Erina's pride and Sōma's cockiness caused him to fail the exam and the two left the room. Later at the Orientation ceremony, Hisako watched as Erina was welcomed as the current top prospect of the 92nd Generation. However, much to Hisako and Erina's surprise, Sōma had somehow entered the academy. After he gave his infamous speech, Hisako vowed to eliminate Sōma from the school for Erina's sake. Sōma's First Shokugeki Since the first day of school, Hisako kept tabs on everything that Sōma had done in the academy including his first class in which he passed Roland Chapelle's lecture with the highest grade and caused him to smile for the first time on record. After Erina's Shokugeki against Kiyoshi Gōdabayashi, Hisako reported to Erina about Sōma's record. Immediately upon hearing his name, Erina, seething with anger, told Hisako to never mention his name around her. However, soon after this event, the first opportunity to possibly expel Sōma had arrived. One of Erina's champions, Ikumi Mito was challenged by Sōma, on behalf of the Don RS club, to a Shokugeki to protect the club from Erina's kitchen expansion project. Hisako accompanied Erina to watch the Don RS vs Mito Shokugeki go down. Though Erina was confident in Ikumi's abilities, she lost the Shokugeki despite her best efforts. Immediately upon her loss, Erina told Hisako to take away the kitchen she had given to Ikumi to use and essentially cut ties from her. Training Camp Several weeks after the Shokugeki Hisako arrived at the Tōtsuki Resort for the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training Camp along with her fellow 92nd Generation classmates. The First Day At the end of her first day, Hisako had made it through her task and returned to the villa. Upon her return, Hisako and her classmates were tasked with making 50 meals for the hotel guests. Hisako was among the first to finish and quickly left the kitchen to find Erina, who was the first to complete the task. She found Erina in a hallway arguing with Sōma. Hisako immediately confronted Sōma, who told her that he pushed down Erina. Hisako immediately misinterpreted his meaning, though Erina explained what happened to her. Though Erina previously was looking forward to playing cards with Hisako, thanks to Sōma's unfortunate meeting with her, Erina told her that they will not play something so "happy-go-lucky". The Third Day and the Breakfast Buffet Challenge Hisako made it through the next two days without getting expelled. On the third night, Hisako and the rest of the remaining students were summoned to the Main Hall for a surprise announcement from Gin Dōjima. Their task for the next day was to create a breakfast buffet dish for the hotel guests. He also added that the challenge will begin at 6 AM the next morning, meaning that the students did not have time to sleep. After Hisako and Erina headed to the kitchens they bumped into Erina's Danish cousin, Alice Nakiri and her assistant Ryō Kurokiba. The Nakiri cousins exchanged a few insults at each other before their separate ways. As they left, Hisako shot a glare at Alice. Arriving at the kitchen area, Hisako and Erina immediately set to work, choosing and preparing their intended dishes. Erina picked her dish quickly and headed to bed, leaving Hisako to finalize her choice. Hisako was assigned to a different hall from Erina, but nevertheless passed the challenge. The Final Day At the end of the fifth day, many of Hisako's fellow classmates were beyond the brink of exhaustion. After Dōjima summoned them once more to the main hall, he gave some inspiring words to the students there for their journey from then on at Tōtsuki. He announced that 628 students present had completed the camp and their final assignment was a lavish feast prepared by the Tōtsuki Academy Alumni and the hotel staff. Hisako joined Erina for the banquet. The next day, Hisako packed her things to return to Tōtsuki. However, when Hisako and Erina got onto the bus, Erina had forgotten something important in the hotel and told her that she will arrange for a Tōtsuki car to return her to the academy. Hisako stayed on the bus and returned to Tōtsuki by herself. The 43rd Autumn Election Main article: Tōtsuki Autumn Election Arc After the spring term concluded, Hisako gathered with her fellow 92nd Generation students to see who was chosen to participate in the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election. Unsurprisingly, Hisako was among the 60 students chosen. Erina congratulated her on her selection and Hisako promised to use the election to demoralize Sōma. However, mentioning Sōma's name caused Erina to comically sulk in embarrassment after failing to see Sōma's expulsion. Hisako told herself that she would take Sōma down for Erina's sake. Using the month prior to the election, Hisako began to craft her dish around the preliminary round's theme: Curry Dishes. During that time, Erina did her best to help Hisako out, but soon, Erina began to put too much input. Feeling the need to show her true prowess in the election, Hisako told Erina to let her work alone by her own accord. Tōtsuki Autumn Election: Preliminary Round After a month of preparation, Hisako arrived at the tournament along with the 59 other participants. After listening to Senzaemon Nakiri give some inspiring words to the participants, the preliminary round began and Hisako headed to the "B" Block. As the preliminary cooking round began, the head judge of the "B" Block, Orie Sendawara began searching for some of the more notable chefs in the kitchen areas. Hisako was among the few who caught her attention. At the time, Hisako was adding a mysterious powder and spice blend into a pot of water, much to the wonder of the crowd. Meanwhile in a neighboring kitchen was Alice. Alice smugly told her that she was happy to see Hisako cooking at full strength, using her signature technique. Hisako retorted that she felt that she shouldn't hold back against anyone with Erina watching. After the cooking time concluded, Hisako put the finishing touches on her dish and joined the other "B" Block participants for the judging round. Almost all of the initial first dishes were graded with scores as low as only 6 points. However, this low scoring trend ended with Nao Sadatsuka, whose Jet Black Curry Laksa earned the first satisfactory score of 84 points. As Nao mused over her high score, Hisako stepped up next. Nao confronted Hisako, telling her that if she earned a higher score than her in the preliminary rounds, she hoped that Erina would eventually noticed her. However, Hisako presented her dish to the judges undeterred and confident. Though the judges were still reveling from Nao's dish, a single bite of Hisako's Mutton Meat Shimotsu-to Curry completely removed the judges thoughts about Nao's dish. Nao was unable to comprehend that Hisako's dish was better so she handed her a sample of her dish. As Nao ate her dish, she realized the difference in their dish's impact. As Nao submitted in defeat, Hisako was given a score of 92, claiming the top score for the "B" Block. As Hisako walked away from her defeated rival, she told Nao that her cooking was shallow and self-centered while her cooking focused around serving others, especially for her "emperor", Erina. Unfortunately for Hisako, Nao developed a crush on her. For the rest of the judging round, Hisako firmly remained the highest scoring student of the "B" Block until Alice presented her dish, claiming the top score of the "B" Block. However, though Hisako finished in 2nd place, she qualified to move on to the main tournament. Tōtsuki Autumn Election: Main Tournament Quarterfinal Hisako was present at the Arena for the first day of the Main Tournament. However, her match was not until the second day so she watched from the stands. After the first two quarterfinal matches concluded, Hisako left the arena and walked past Sōma and Takumi. Later that day she was sumoned to Tōtsuki HQ to learn about her match's them as well as her opponent: Akira Hayama. That night, Hisako vowed to Erina that she would deliver her a win in her match. On the second day of Main Tournament Quarterfinals, Hisako's match was the first of the day. As she and Akira walked into the arena, their theme, hamburgers, was announced to the audience. While they walked to their stations, Akira told Hisako to make sure that Erina was ready to give her Elite Ten Council seat and Tōtsuki's top to him. Unimpressed, Hisako responds to Akira's boast by saying that she will join the Elite Ten first to be with Erina. As their match began, Hisako brought out her secret weapon: a pot of soft-shelled turtles. Though most of the crowd responded squeamishly, Hisako mercilessly butchered the live turtles and drained the blood. The judges however, watched Hisako with great interest, looking forward to her final product. Hisako presented her dish first, a Soft-Shelled Turtle Hamburger. Most of the crowd was disappointed by the normal appearance of the burger despite her rather shocking preparation of the dish. As the judges began to eat her dish, the audience noticed that the aged judges looked more youthful after a single bite. Hisako explained that she ground up the turtle shell into a powder as her Medicinal basis for her patty. Though the crowd seemed to understand her impressive work, Senzaemon informed the crowd that only the judges who had eaten the burger itself could understand its power. The "stickiness" of the burger's contents was to stimulate the soft palate, a key organ in the mouth for physical stimuli, thus creating a dish that not only stimulates the eaters taste, but also their sense of touch. The flavor was enough to make Senzaemon strip his top, however, Akira, who was cooking throughout her presentation, started to cook his burger. As the aroma filled the air, all of the attention in the arena shifted to him, including Hisako. Akira presented his Kofta Kebab Burger, which Hisako initially saw as a poor choice as the Kebab on top of a heavy hamburger would create a heavy flavor and is not easily justified by a strong aroma. However, much to her surprise, the judges finished his burger without even noticing it. Akira explained that a burger has 4 important elements: the buns, the patty, the sauce, and pickles. Since pickles creates a contrast with the burger, enhancing its flavor, Akira deemed her choice for pickles, needle ginger, a poor choice, while he explained that he used achar to achieve not only the strong aroma, but the strong contrast needed to balance out the burger and kebab's heavy flavor, making it too irresistible to eat slowly. Akira told her that someone like her who was fine with being "No. 2" would never be a worthy opponent. As he called her will and world of cooking limited, Hisako did not admit it out loud, but she realized the difference between them the minute his dish's aroma hit her. Without as single doubt in their minds, the judges Akira was declared the match as Hisako slowly walked out of the Arena in defeat. Following her defeat, Hisako could not bear to face Erina and decided to take a leave of absence to improve herself. Stagiaire Main Article: Stagiaire Arc Sometime after her self-imposed leave, Hisako eventually returned to campus in time for the Stagiaire event. Hisako had yet to face Erina since her defeat since she continued to sulk from her loss. On her way to her location for the event, Hisako encountered Sōma who was also assigned to the same location, much to her displeasure. Upon arrival at their location, Hisako and Sōma saw a crowd of angry patrons storming out of the restaurant. The two met the owner of Restaurant Mitamura, Mamoru Mitamura and they immediately began to prepare for their first day. After changing, Hisako told Sōma that her loss in the Autumn Election made her unworthy to be with Erina, fearing that her loss will taint Erina's reputation. Just as they finished preparing, Sōma attempted to establish some order for the upcoming meal rush, but Hisako confidentially informed him that she had no trouble during the training camp and that she has not failed a single course. Unfortunately, Hisako underestimated the sheer number of customers that rushed in and the restaurant was quickly crowded within minutes. With great difficulty, the customer's orders were filled and the restaurant was quickly vacated. Still, there was no time to rest as the next wave of patrons stormed the restaurant. Much to Hisako and the restaurant staff's surprise, Sōma was already taking orders from the customers and relayed the orders with out a single delay. Hisako steeled herself and followed Sōma's orders and by the end of the day, the restaurant managed to fulfill every order without a single meal cancelation. The restaurant staff thanked the two for their hard work. Though Hisako felt that Sōma did most of the work since he was used to working in a restaurant, the staff commended her for quick learning and efficient cooking. Finally, Hisako received a sudden slap on the back as Sōma commended her on a job well done as he could not wait for the next day, much to Hisako's embarrassment. Over the course of the first three days, thanks to Hisako and Sōma's hard work, Western Cuisine Mitamura was operating smoothly. Mamoru confides with Hisako and Sōma that he hopes that the restaurant will one day regain its former glory. Although Hisako believed that they were doing just fine, Sōma felt that they had yet to make a "visible" result at the restaurant. Sōma asked her if Western Cuisine Mitamura was a place she would want to work at. Hisako did not answer immediately, however a few days later, she realized that although the restaurant had seen a drop in customer complaints since they arrived, once Hisako and Sōma left, the restaurant would most likely return to the way it was. To deal with the meal rush that floods the restaurant but still keep the food quality, Sōma suggested that they should only admit customers who make a prior reservation. Hisako agreed and convinced the hesitant workers to give it a try. By the next day, their idea was implemented and was largely successful. With the crowd under control and the food quality still the same, Hisako and Sōma passed the first stage of their Stagiaire and was confirmed by Kazune Nishizono. Before leaving the restaurant, Sōma asked if she was going to return to Erina soon. Hisako still felt that she was unworthy to return to her, but Sōma offered to listen to her troubles. She admitted that she was always find standing behind Erina and Akira's words to her made her reflect on that thought. Sōma recommended that she should try and stand beside Erina rather than behind as he handed her a bag of shojo manga that Erina had requested from him. Touched by Sōma's kind words, she thanked him as she departed to reunite with Erina. Cooking Style *'Medicinal Cooking' - Hisako specializes in medicinal cooking, infusing traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients such as Dong Dang Sui, a variant of ginseng, into her cooking. This knowledge stems from the Arato family, renowned for their extensive research and knowledge of Chinese medicine. She studied this craft extensively so that she could serve Erina. Dishes *'Mutton Meat Shimotsu-to Curry' - Hisako's curry dish during the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election. Hisako blended her family's chinese medicine into the spice blend, creating an invigorating dish. It immediately followed Nao Sadatsuka's Jet Black Curry Laksa and completely overpowered her dish's flavor. Her efforts allowed her to earn a higher score than her and temporarily held the highest score of the "B" Block. It was only beaten by Alice's Thermal Sense Curry. *'Soft-Shelled Turtle Hamburger' - Hisako's Hamburger dish for her Tōtsuki Autumn Election Main Tournament quarterfinal match. Her unexpected choice of using soft-shelled turtles combined with her live butchering of said tournament was shocking to say the least. However all of the turtle's components including the blood and shell was used to create this surprising dish. The secret behind the dish is the "stickiness" of the burger, stimulating not only the eater's sense of taste, but also their sense of touch. Cooking Duel Records Official Shokugeki Record Autumn Election Record Clubs *Elite Ten Council - Although she is not a seated member she is the secretary for the current 10th seat, Erina Nakiri. Trivia *Hisako's name uses the kanji Scarlet (Hi), Sand (Sa), Child (Ko). Hisako also means Child of an old story. Arato translates as New door **Her given name, Hisako, is a pun of the japanese word Hisho (秘書), meaning secretary. This has been noted by Alice Nakiri and has been confirmed by the author Yūto Tsukuda.Shokugeki no Soma chapter 57, page 5 Alice further teases Hisako by combining her name into Hishoko (秘書子) which later becomes her nickname by most of her classmates, *Hisako debuted in Chapter 2, but her name is not revealed until Chapter 52. Prior to this, she was addressed as Erina's Secretary. *Hisako is currently the only known member in Erina's Elite Ten faction. References Navigation Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Tōtsuki Culinary Academy Students Category:Students Category:92nd Generation Students Category:Tōtsuki Autumn Election Participant